


August

by CottonCandyWhump



Category: Chicago Fire
Genre: AUgust - Freeform, Allergies, August writing prompts, Cucumber Water, Fainting, Fan - Freeform, Fans, Heatwave, Hurt, Hurt Matthew Casey, Ice Cream, Jellyfish, Jellyfish Sting, M/M, New Shoes, Passing Out, Summer, Summer reading, Sunglasses, Superstitions, Teasing, Vomiting, Water, Waterguns, Whump, allergy, emeto, fall - Freeform, falling, four leaf clover, heat - Freeform, hurt!Casey, ice cream eating contest, unlucky clover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-07-29 16:46:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 8,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20085484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CottonCandyWhump/pseuds/CottonCandyWhump
Summary: Chicago Fire oneshots/drabbles based on the August writing prompts list.





	1. Heatwave

“Ugggggggggghhhh,” Severide groans, stretched across the couch in his office, his legs draped over Casey’s lap. “It’s sooooooooo hot.”

“Quit being such a baby, Sev. It’s not that hot,” Casey tells him, turning the page in his book. 

“It’s boiling! My skin is going to melt off!” Kelly whines.

“You literally run into burning buildings for a living and you’re complaining about a heatwave?” 

“Yes!” 

Casey rolls his eyes, going back to his book as Kelly sighs in content, the fan on the desk having finally made its way over to him.


	2. Visiting Grandma & Grandpa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during Casey’s childhood, pre divorce.

“Granny! Grampy!” 

Amber Casey stumbled back as the two children launch themselves at her before tackling their Grandpa Eddie.

“Matty! You look so big! How old are you now? Sixteen?” Amber teases.

“No, Granny! I’m five!” Matt giggles, holding up a hand.

“No way! And what about you, Christie? You must be old enough to drive now!”

“Granny! You know how old I am!” the young girl laughs.

“Hmmm…” Granny Amber pretends to think, “Twenty?”

“No! I’m nine!” 

“Nine? My goodness!” 

“So which one of you wants to help me feed the chickens?” Grandpa Eddie grins at the two kids.

“Me!” Matt shouts, waving his right hand in the air.

“Alrighty then!” Grandpa Eddie says as he scoops the boy up on his shoulders.

“Onwards!” Matt shouts, giggling.


	3. Watermelon Without Seeds

“What are you doing?” Casey asks as he watches Mills carefully taking the seeds out of his watermelon.

“Taking the seeds out.”

“...why?” 

“They taste weird.”

Casey exchanges a puzzled glance with Severide who shrugs his shoulders.


	4. Seaweed

Casey sighs in content as he lays his head back and closes his eyes, feeling the sun warming his face. If he listens closely, he can hear the waves crashing and the seagulls cawing. He can hear children swimming around and giggling as they splash each other. 

Casey yelps as he’s suddenly lifted up in the air, towel and all. He looks around and sees Severide, Otis, Herrmann and Cruz holding the sides of his towel and running into the water. 

“Hey! Let me down!” He yells as he tries to escape though his attempts are futile.

They finally get deep enough and the firefighters dump their lieutenant into the water with a splash.

Casey surfaces, coughing and sputtering, glaring at the men who dumped him in.

“Assholes,” Casey grumbles, starting to swim away.

He lets out a strangled yelp as Severide jumps on him, dragging him underwater again. Casey breaks the surface, glaring at his friend.

“Can I not enjoy my day off in peace?” He snaps, moving to swim back to shore when something slimy brushes against his leg and he yelps. 

“What’s wrong?” Kelly asks, concerned.

“Something touched my leg,” Casey tells him.

Kelly frowns but dives under. He resurfaces a few seconds later, laughing. 

“What was it?” 

“Seaweed, Case. It was just seaweed,” Kelly laughs.

“Whatever. It’s gross.”


	5. Watergun

Casey practically falls out of the truck, exhausted from the apartment fire they had just come from. He wipes his hand across his forehead, making a face when it comes away wet with sweat.

“Urgh. It’s so hot,” Casey complains. He was the polar opposite of Cruz. While Cruz hated the cold, Casey couldn’t stand the heat. 

“You’re too hot? Come on, I have something that might help,” Severide says, grinning over at his friend. Casey is too damn hot to notice the mischievous glint in the squad lieutenants eye. 

“Close your eyes,” Kelly tells his friend. Casey obliges and a few seconds later, he’s hit in the face, full force, with water. 

He opens his eyes to see Severide standing there, a bright orange and purple super soaker in his hands. Casey musters up a glare but honestly, he isn’t mad. The ice cold water certainly cooled him down. 

Kelly sprays him again and Matt can’t keep the glare on his face. He lets it drop as he lets out a sigh of content.

“Better?” 

“Yeah.”


	6. Toe Slippers (Not)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m so sorry his is like two days late. I’ve spent three days trying to find out what toe slippers are and I’m honestly two seconds away from a mental breakdown. I still have no idea what they are so I’m going to do sandals.

“Otis, my office in ten minutes.”

Otis looks up as the truck lieutenant disappears around the corner, his message having been delivered. He looks over to Cruz with a questioning glance and Cruz just shrugs before turning back to the tv.

Nervous as to why his lieutenant needed him in his office, Otis stands up, pacing until the ten minutes are over. He heads to Casey’s office, noting that the blinds are down - never a good sign. He knocks once before opening the door, slightly confused when he sees Casey, Severide and Boden standing there. This couldn’t be good.

“Lieutenant?” Otis questions, glancing around at his superiors.

“You can’t be wearing those,” Casey tells him, straight to the point.

“What? Why?”

Casey looks to Severide for help and the squad lieutenant makes a face before saying “It’s a safety concern.”

Otis looks up to argue but one look from Boden silences him.

“Yes, Lieutenants.”

“Good. You’re dismissed.”

Otis returns to the living room and flops down on the couch next to Cruz who looks up.

“What happened?” He asks.

“They told me I couldn’t wear my shoes. Severide said they were a safety concern.” Otis tells him, glancing down. Cruz glances down too and groans when he sees.

“Otis, please tell me why you thought socks and sandals was a good idea?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please somebody tell me what toe slippers are.


	7. Mild Sunburn

“Hey, good job out there,” Mills says, patting Brett on the shoulder, surprised when she lets out a yelp.

“You ok?” Mills asks, taking a step back and raising his hands.

“I spent my day off at the beach and fell asleep. I got sunburned.”

Mills raises his eyebrows at her and she rolls her eyes.

“I know! All you big bad firefighters rush into burning buildings all day, a sunburn is probably nothing to you. Leave me alone, it hurts,” Slyvie grumbles.


	8. Four Leaf Clover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got carried away...

“Guess what I found,” Cruz says, coming into the station twenty minutes late.

“A good reason as to why your late?” Casey asks, arms folded across his chest.

“A lucky four leaf clover!” 

“Is that why you’re late?” 

“No, my car broke down this morning and I couldn’t find my gear. Then the bus was late and there was an accident on the way here which delayed it,” Cruz tells him.

“Doesn’t seem very lucky,” Casey remarks, eyeing the clover.

“It is! Just wait!” Cruz says, putting the clover in a small container.

Casey raises his eyebrows skeptically but says nothing more.

“Truck 81. Squad 3. Engine 51. Ambulance 61. Battalion 25. Apartment fire. Fire has spread to the buildings on either side.”

Otis glares at Cruz, “That is NOT a lucky clover.”

~~~

“Cruz! Otis! Take the second floor! Herrmann, with me! We’re going to the top floor!”

“Capp, you and Tony join house 48 on the second building! Mills and I’ll go in with truck!” 

Cruz takes a deep breath before heading into the burning building, his lungs burning. He starts when he sees a crack in his mask.

“Chief, my masks broken!” He says through the radio.

“Get out of there, Cruz!” 

Cruz heads out of the building, leaving Otis to join up with two of the guys from 56 and resigning himself to working the hoses as his brothers brave the flaming building.

“Chief! Casey’s down!” Severide’s voice comes through the radio followed by a scream of pain from somewhere on Severide’s end. “Damnit, Case! Stop moving!”

“How bad is it?” Boden asks, worry showing on his face.

“It’s not great, Chief. One of the ceiling beams is pinning him down. I can’t lift it. He’s conscious but fading fast.”

“Where’s Herrmann?” 

“We found two kids, Herrmann’s taking them down. Casey! Hey! Stay awake!” 

Severide’s panicked shouting towards the end makes Cruz’s stomach sink with worry and he can see Boden’s upset as well.

“Can anyone get to Casey and Severide?” He shouts through the radio.

“Negative, chief,” Otis says. 

“Chief, he’s not doing well,” Severide tells them.

“I’m coming in. Where are you?” Boden says, putting his mask on.

“Top floor, second window from the left,” Severide answers and sure enough, Cruz looks up to see Severide waving from the window. 

Boden heads in and the few minutes of radio silence are nearly too much for Cruz to handle. He feels like crying when Severide’s voice crackles through, “We’ve got him. Coming down now. Somebody get an ambo ready.”

About a minute later, Severide and Boden appear in the doorway, carrying a barely conscious Casey in between the two of them.

“Brett! Chili!” Severide calls, lying Casey down on the empty gurney.

Severide and Boden take a step back as Chili and Brett rush over, doing their best to help the truck lieutenant.

“He’s not breathing. Brett!” Chili yells, hopping in the driver's seat as Brett and Severide get in the back with Casey, Brett trying her best to get the Lieutenant breathing again.

~~~

“Matthew Casey?” A doctor calls, appearing in the waiting room after about an hour. The firefighters look up, eager to hear how their friend is doing.

“He’s stable at the moment but will have to remain in the ICU overnight for observation. He has a moderate concussion, a laceration on his spleen, three broken ribs and a broken wrist. He’s awake now if you’d like to see him.”

The team follows the doctor down the hall towards Casey’s room and head in, Cruz stopping when Casey’s eyes snap to him.

“Get that thing out of here!” Casey yells, the heart monitor going crazy, and Cruz looks down to see he’s still holding the container with the four leaf clover.

“This?” He asks, lifting it up. The heart monitor starts beeping again as Casey shys away from it.

“Get it out!” Casey shouts and Cruz drops it, container and all into the garbage can. Casey relaxes and the heart monitor silences itself.

Severide raises an eyebrow as he looks towards his best friend. 

“Casey, I didn’t know you were superstitious.”

“Shut up, Sev.”


	9. Waterskiing

“Ready?” Kelly calls, looking back to see Casey standing on the water skis with an apprehensive look on his face.

“Yeah,” Casey calls back, though he sounds uncertain.

“Alright! Three, two, one, go!” Severide shouts before starting the boat. It’s only about three seconds before Casey lets out a strangled yelp and falls off the skis. Kelly stops the boat and turns around, shaking his head as he watches Casey pop up a few feet away, choking and sputtering.

“You alright?”

“I think it’s your turn,” Casey tells him, swimming over.


	10. Ice Cream Eating Contest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m out of town at the moment and don’t have WiFi so they might be a bit late. Sorry.

“Three, two, one, go!” 

As Otis finishes the countdown, Severide, Mills, Herrmann, Capp, Cruz, Tony and Mouch start hurriedly eating ice cream. Casey and Boden exchange a look that says This seems like a terrible idea but I’m not going to step in just yet as Otis watches in amusement and excitement.

Tony ducks out first with a groan, having finished two bowls of ice cream and decided his stomach had had enough. Mouch is the next one to quit, three bowls in. Herrmann comes after, four bowls in.

As the four remaining firefighters scoop up ice cream as if their life depends on it, Casey and Boden exchange a look, starting to get worried.

“Hey guys, maybe it’s time to call it quits,” Casey suggests.

Severide sends him a look, the ice cream dripping from his mouth making it a lot less intimidating then it should be. Casey backs off, hands up in surrender as Kelly starts on his fifth bowl. 

Capp and Cruz back out at around the same time, Capp rushing to the bathroom with a hand over his mouth and Cruz resting his head on the table with a moan. Casey gives his friend a sympathic pat on the back. It turns out to be too much for Cruz’s stomach and he jumps up, a fist over his mouth as he follows Capp’s path into the washroom.

Casey watches him go with a grimace and decides that taking a step back is probably in his best interest. Severide and Mills are involved in a staring contest as they eat, each refusing the give up until the other does. They’re probably on their eighth or ninth bowl, Casey has lost count, when the truck lieutenant decides to step in. 

“Ok. That’s enough you two,” Casey tells them, reaching in between them to pluck their spoons away, grimacing when he finds them coated in ice cream. They both send him matching offended glares and Casey resists the urge to roll his eyes.

“Come on. Mills, you need to clean the truck. Sev, don’t you have paperwork to do?” Casey says, raising an eyebrow.

“Well-,” Kelly starts before doubling over with a gag. 

Casey jumps back, knocking into Boden just as Severide throws up, frothy beige sludge running down his navy lieutenant’s shirt and pooling in his lap. Mills makes a face before pulling the empty ice cream container towards him as he gags, a loud splattering sound filling the room.

Kelly groans before gagging again, pitching forwards so he misses his shirt, instead throwing up onto the floor. Casey looks around for a bucket or anything, seeing as how Mills had claimed the large ice cream container. 

Not finding anything, he bites his lip before grabbing Kelly’s shoulder and dragging him down the hall and into the washroom before depositing him in front of the toilet just as Severide erupts, choking up more beige sludge into the toilet. Matt closes the door to give his friend some privacy before heading back to take care of Mills, wondering why he ended up with this job when he had specifically chosen not to get involved.

He gets back to the table to find Mills still throwing up into the bucket. With a sigh, Casey taps the candidate on the shoulder before grabbing his arm and guiding him upwards.

“Bathroom,” Casey tells him, dragging him into the stall next to Severide.

“This is horrible,” Severide complains and Casey shoots him a glare.

“I warned you. Boden warned you. And you still did it,” Casey tells him, taking some sadistic pleasure in watching his friend suffer.

“I get it, Matt,” Kelly whines before gagging again.

“I’m sure you do.”


	11. Lost Sunglasses

“Hey, Case?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Have you seen my sunglasses?” 

“Nope! Did you check the tv stand?” 

“They’re not there!”

“Check the laundry room!”

“They’re not here!”

“The kitchen?”

“Found em! They were in the microwave!”

“Why were they in the microwave?” 

“I don’t know! Why is your lieutenants shirt in the fridge?”

“Why would I know?”

“Maybe because it’s your shirt?”

“I’ll be out in a second! What time is it?”

“8:48!”

“Shit! We’re going to be late, Sev!”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t take seven years to get ready!”

“I couldn’t find my shirt!”

“Well I found it so get your butt out here!”

“I’m coming! Oh god, Boden’s going to kill us.”


	12. Summer Reading

/“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, Protectors of the Universe?” I asked./

Casey looks up from his book as something hits him in the back of the head. He looks down and picks up a plastic bottle cap. Narrowing his eyes, he looks around the room. Truck and Ambo are sitting around the round table, discussing something or other. Squad is lounging on the couches, looking bored. Casey huffs, turning back to his book.

/“You are clueless, aren’t you?” Seth said. “I keep forgetting you had all this thrust on you at three years of age.”/

Casey blinks as something else hits his head and he looks up, not seeing anybody suspicious. He glances down to the floor and sees another small bottle cap, this one blue whereas the other was clear. Not sure who’s launching the projectiles, Casey goes back to his book.

/“Behold, Alpar Nok, the home of the Alien Hunters, the universe’s answer to injustice and evil! Your parents were sent to Earth to protect the oh-so-special humans from the Outer Ones, as they like to call us.”/

Another bottle cap hits Casey’s head and he turns around just in time to see Severide turning around, an arsenal of bottle caps in his hand. 

Trying not to let on that he saw him, Casey puts his book down and stands up, grabbing a glass and filling it with ice cubes. He starts walking back to the chair, feeling everyones eyes on him, he walks by the couches where squad is lounging and suddenly grabs Kelly’s shirt, dumping the ice cubes down it.

He keeps walking back to his chair as he hears Severide shouting, trying to get the ice out of his shirt. He looks over to see the rest of squad doubled over laughing. Severide shoots him a glare before the ice makes it’s way into his pants and he squeals, writhing around. Casey smirks before going back to his book - /The Dangerous Days Of Daniel X./


	13. No Shade

“Again!” Casey calls. 

The rest of his crew groans. They had been doing drills for the better pat of the day. Casey turns towards his team, taking in their pale skin and exhausted expressions. 

“Alright. Take a break. Go drink some water, sit down in the shade and be back here in half an hour,” Casey tells them, turning to head inside for a minute. 

“What shade?!” Herrmann shouts and Casey looks around to see that, sure enough, there is no shade whatsoever.

“Change of plans. Everyone head inside. We’re done for today.”


	14. Cucumber Water

Casey wipes a hand across his face, grimacing when it comes away wet with sweat. They had been at the same call for about four hours trying to get a group of people out of the sewers. They had gotten most of the group up at around the half hour mark, right before the earth shifted, trapping Severide and the rest of the group underground. A quick radio call had confirmed that everyone was all right and put Casey in charge of Squad as well as Truck. 

“You guys have been here for so long. You must be thirsty.” 

Casey looks up to see a lady standing on the porch of one of the houses lining the now closed off street. She’s holding a try with a few glasses of water, a slice of cucumber of the side of each glass. Both Squad and Truck look to him, silently asking if they can accept the water. Casey gives a slow nod and they each take a glass, draining the water and putting the empty glass on the tray with a nod and a thank you.

“Would you like some?” The lady calls to him and Casey’s about to respond when his vision starts to blur. That’s the last thing he remembers before he wakes up on the ground a few minutes later.

~~~

“He’s waking up!”

“Hey, Lieutenant? You with us?”

“Casey? Open your eyes.”

Casey groans at the voices assualting his ears and tries to turn away from them. 

“Lieutenant?”

“Casey, open your eyes.”

“Wake up.”

Casey opens his eyes, if only to tell the voices to shut up, and he’s immediately greeted by the sight of Cruz, Herrmann, Capp standing over him.

“What’s going on?” He asks, trying to sit up.

“Stay down, Casey. You passed out,” Cruz tells him, lightly pushing him back down to the ground.

“I passed out?” Casey asks, turning his head.

“Yeah. Scared the shit out of everyone,” Herrmann says.

“Oh. Well, back to work,” Casey says, standing up, ignoring everyone’s yells to stop.

“Lieutenant! Sit down! That’s an order!” Boden shouts, heading over. Casey scowls but lowers himself to the ground nonetheless. 

He stays there, sitting against the Squad rig for the rest of the call. As much as he wants to help out, he knows he can’t disobey a direct order from Boden.


	15. Magic Show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back so updates will hopefully be more frequent. Also hornets are assholes.

“And this,” Cruz says, holding up Casey’s old turnout coat - the one burned in a restaurant fire. “Is a turnout coat. It protects us from the fire so we don’t get burned.”

“That’s boring!” One of the first graders, a small blond kid, shouts.

Cruz resists the urge to yell. That kid had been the one causing trouble the whole time. Everytime he showed them something, the kid would make faces or whisper something to his friends to send them into fits of giggles. This was the first time he had said something directly to Cruz and Cruz finds himself looking to the teacher for help. 

He looks over to where the teacher is and sees her chatting with Severide who is shamelessly flirting with her. With a sigh, Cruz realizes that he’s on his own.

“Well, what would you like to see instead? The hoses? The trucks?” Cruz asks the kid. 

The boy seems to think for a second before grinning. “A magic show.”

“A magic show? I’m sure that can be arranged.”


	16. Swimming In The Pool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I mean technically it’s drowning but that still counts... right?

“Casey! Get out of there now!” 

Casey’s standing in the doorway of the burning house when the building blows, flames erupting from every window. The blast sends Casey flying, making him land with a splash in the pool across the street. The two little girls he had saved scream at the loud sound, burying their heads in Dawson’s chest as she wraps her arms around them.

“Casey!” Severide shouts, darting across the street to check on his best friend.

A car honks at him but he keeps running, cursing everything from the sun to pop tarts. He gets to the edge of the pool, Shay and Mills behind him. Kelly’s heart stops beating when he sees his brother lying face down on the bottom of the pool. Without a second thought, Severide strips off his turnout coat and pants and dives in. 

He can feel the pressure of the water pushing against his ears as he loops his arms around Casey’s chest, trying his best to pull him up. He finally gets Casey and breaks the surface with a loud gasp.

Together with Mills, he manages to get Casey out of the water and climbs out behind him.

“He’s not breathing,” Shay announces, starting rescue breaths. 

Pushing Shay out of the way, Kelly takes over. 

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. 

Check for breathing. 

None. 

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. 

Check for breathing. 

None. 

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. 

Check for breathing.

None.

“Kelly,” Shay says, putting a hand on his arm, “Kelly, it’s been almost three minutes. It’s time to stop.”

Severide shoots her a glare before quickly continuing the breathing.

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

Check for breathing.

None.

In. Out. In. Out-

Casey’s body jerks as a rush of water leaves his mouth, joining the water drenching his clothes. 

“Matt? Matty, look at me. Matt!” Severide shouts, tapping his friends shoulder.

Casey turns his head towards Severide just as the owner of the house rushes out.

“Hey! What’s going on? Is everyone okay?” The blond man asks, running out in his pyjamas. It was fairly early, seven in the morning. 

“We’re really sorry about the disturbance, sir. We’ll be gone as soon as we can,” Shay tells him with a small smile and a worried glance at Casey.

“Nevermind that. Are you guys alright? What happened?” The man asks, crouching beside Severide and Casey, who’s still coughing up water. 

“We were working on the fire across the street. The blast launched Lieutenant Casey here into your pool. Nearly drowned,” Mills explains as quickly as possible.

“Holy shit. Is there anything I can do?” The man asks.

“Do you have any towels? Or a blanket?” Mills asks, hearing Casey’s teeth chattering.

“Sure do. Give me two minutes.”

“Hey, Case. You with us?” Severide asks when Casey groans.

“Yeah. What happened?” 

“You didn’t get out in time. The house blew and you landed in the pool here. We pulled you out and you weren’t breathing. You really scared me, man,” Kelly tells him and Casey shivers. Kelly’s not quite sure if it’s from fear or the cold.

The man returns a few minutes later with a few beach towels. 

With Mills help, Kelly gets Casey wrapped in a Finding Nemo towel, putting a flowery towel around his own shoulders.

They thank the man and head off, promising the return the towels next shift. 

~~~

They’re in the truck on the way back to the station at around nine when suddenly, an odd gurgling sound fills the truck before Casey pitches forwards, water spilling from his mouth and into his lap.

“Holy-,” Cruz starts, “Do you need me to stop, Lieutenant?”

Casey nods, sputtering through the water being expelled from his mouth.

Cruz pulls over as soon as he can and Casey opens the door, water spilling from his mouth and splattering against the pavement as he leans out over the side of the truck. Cruz looks out Casey’s open door and sees a few bystanders standing around

“Fucking drunk,” Cruz hears one man say to his friend who nods.

“You should never go to work with a hang over. Especially if you’re going to be running into burning buildings,” his friend says wisely.

Having heard enough, Cruz gets out of the truck just as Casey chokes out another mouthful of water.

“He’s not hungover,” Cruz says as he approaches the men.

“Bullshit.”

“Lieutenant Casey nearly drowned after saving two little girls. I would shut my mouth if I were you,” Cruz growls, stressing Casey’s rank, somehing he knew the lieutenant would never do.

“Is that what he told you? He’s drunk. Plain and simple. I bet his wife left him,” the man says, laughing to his friend. His friend is starting to look uncomfortable, edging away from the other man. 

Cruz freezes, remembering how Casey had broken down after Hallie’s death only a month ago.

“That is none of your business,” Herrmann says, coming the stand beside Cruz. Behind them, Casey straightens up, having decided that he’s finished.

“It’s my business if you’re wasting my fucking tax dollars!” The man shouts, shoving at Herrmann’s shoulders.

“Jeremy, man, maybe we should just get going. Danny’s waiting for us,” the man’s friend says, stepping in.

“Shut it, Han!” The man, Jeremy shouts, shoving his friend away.

“Maybe you should shut it,” Otis tells him. Casey looks over to see that his whole crew was standing there, looking pissed. Casey fumbles with his seatbelt for a second before hopping down from the truck, stumbling a few steps before getting his bearings. Jeremy sneers at him as Han watches, lips pursed. 

“Guys,” Casey says, stepping in between the two parties, “I appreciate it but we have to get going.” 

“Shut it, drunkie!” Jeremy shouts, roughly shoving Casey to the ground. Gritting his teeth in pain as a spike of pain goes through his ribs, Casey shoots a look at his team warning them against fighting the man.

“We aren’t here to start trouble. We’re leaving right now,” Casey tells him, accepting Herrmanns offered hand up.

Reluctantly the crew gets back into the truck and they head back to the station.

Casey leans his head back with a sigh. It was barely nine thirty in the morning and today had already been shit. He could only imagine how the rest of the day would go.


	17. Summer Shower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hold onto your hats folks, shit is about to get gay.

“Run!” Kelly shouts as he dashes with Casey into their apartment. The rain kept pounding down, no matter how fast they ran and by the time they were up the stairs, they were completely soaked. 

“Hurry up!” Casey shouts as Kelly struggles with the key.

“I’m trying!” 

“Give me that!” 

Grabbing the key from Severide, Casey works on unlocking the door. As soon as the little click sounds, Kelly runs forwards, knocking Casey over in the process.

“Hey!” Casey protests as he’s knocked to the ground, Kelly landing on top of him with a thud.

“Sorry love,” Kelly grins, giving Matt a peck on the cheek. Severide smirks as his boyfriend flushes red, attempting to push him away.

“Kelly!” He whines as Kelly rains down kiss after kiss on his boyfriend's face. “Quit it!”

“Quit what?” Kelly asks, kissing his forehead.

“That!”

“Oh? This?” 

Another kiss to the cheek.

“Yes!”

“You mean this?”

“Yes! Stop it, Kel!” 

“What? I can’t kiss my boyfriend?”

“At least let me get in the house first!”

“Fine but after that you’re all mine,” Kelly says with a wink and Matt flushes red all over again.


	18. The Rustling Of The Leaves

“Hello?” Casey calls, freezing as an odd feeling of fear creeping up his spine.

He had been washing the truck at three am, unable to sleep from a combination of a bad call earlier and just general insomnia. He had been tossing and turning for a couple hours before deciding that if he wasn’t going to be able to sleep, he might as well do something useful. 

The bushes rustle again and Casey freezes with the hose in his hand, looking towards the bushes, trying to see if there’s anything there. Not finding anything, he continues washing the truck. After he finishes with his truck, he puts it back inside and takes out Kelly’s rig, deciding to do him a favour. 

He’s about halfway through the left side of the squad rig when the bushes rustle again and Casey freezes, looking over towards them again. Not seeing anything, he huffs a laugh, surprised at how paranoid he’s being. He’s nearly done with the other side when suddenly something jumps on his back, shoving him to the ground. With a shout of surprise, Casey struggles to push the thing off him, surprised to see a german shepard staring him in the eyes, teeth bared in a snarl. 

“Good doggie,” Casey tries, hesitantly reaching a hand up to push the dog away.

The dog growls, grabbing Casey’s arm in his mouth and biting down hard enough to cause Casey to scream in pain. The noise sends the dog into a frenzy, clawing and scratching anything it can reach as Casey screams out, trying to get the beast off of him.

“Jesus Christ!” Somebody shouts. There’s more shouting and suddenly the dog is off of him and Casey can breathe again. 

“Casey? Are you ok? Jesus that thing did a number on your arm,” Severide says, crouching down beside his friend and gently examining his arm.

“Don’t touch it!” Casey snaps, pulling his arm back.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Where’s the dog?” Casey asks, glancing around uncertainly.

“Don’t worry, Capp and Tony have him. They’re calling animal control right now. That things a menace. What were you doing out here anyway?” Severide asks, giving Casey a hand up.

“Couldn’t sleep. Figured I do something useful,” Casey tells him as Kelly leads him into the locker room and starts cleaning his cuts and scratches. It’s when Kelly’s bandaging his arm that Casey yawns, feeling his exhaustion catching up with him. He tries his best to stay awake but eventually he feels himself fading.

Kelly’s just finishing up Casey’s arm when his friend slumps into his lap suddenly. Concerned, Severide checks his pulse, relieved to see he’ just asleep.

Not wanting to wake up Casey and unsure of how to move him without waking him up, Severide balls up his turnout coats under Casey’s head and grabs a couple sweaters as a blanket. 

“Night, Case,” Severide mumbles and he leans against the locker, prepared to wake up achy and stiff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should really stop hurting Casey...


	19. Cicadas

Casey sighs as he lays outside the station, the night air cool without the sun to warm it. The grass is tickling his ears and the only sound he can hear is the odd car driving in the distance. 

That is - until the cicadas start.

It was nice at first, the light buzzing lulling him into a light sleep, then they increased in volume until they were practically screaming at him, ruining the peaceful silence. With an irritated groan, he sits himself up.

“SHUT UP!!!” He shouts, well aware that it would have little effect on the little demons. 

“Sorry Lieutenant. We didn’t realize we were being that loud,” Herrmann calls from the other side of the station where he and Otis are working on something or other.

“Not you. Just these damn cicadas won’t shut up,” Casey calls back. 

It takes a few minutes but eventually the cicadas quite down enough and Casey closes his eyes, finally able to get some rest.


	20. Dehydrated Bee

“Lieutenant! Come quick! And bring some water!” The new candidate, Lucas something or other yells when Casey comes in in the morning.

“What is it?” Casey asks, grabbing his water bottle and running after the fawn haired youth.

“Over here!” 

The boy leads him over to the sidewalk and kneels down beside something small. 

“It’s a bee,” Casey says dumbly, staring at the small, fuzzy, black and yellow creature lying on the sidewalk.

“He’s dehydrated! Pass me the water!” The candidate tells him, reaching for Casey’s bottle.

“It’s a bee.”

“I know that! He’s dehydrated and he’s going to die if we don’t give him water!”

Casey stares at the candidate for a minute, trying to figure out if he’s kidding or not. Realizing that the kid was dead serious, Casey squirts a few drops of water onto the sidewalk and gently nudges the bee towards it. A few passerby shoot them strange looks but Casey pays them no heed as he watches the bee perk up and start flying, landing on the candidates open palm.

“Hey Mr. Bee. You ok now? That’s good. Have a nice day,” Lucas says before gently raising his hand to let the bee take off. Casey just stares at him the whole time before deciding that the candidate was odd. Not in a bad way; just odd.


	21. Wet Dog

“Pouch, no!” 

Casey turns at the shout and looks over to see Pouch, dripping wet, running straight for him. He doesn’t have time to move before Pouch jumps at him, pushing him down to the ground as the dog goes about licking every part of Casey that he can reach. 

“Aw! Pouch, get off,” Casey shouts as he tries to shield his face from both the smell of wet dog and said wet dog’s tongue.

“Pouch! Enough!” Cruz shouts, grabbing the dog by the collar and pulling him off the disheveled lieutenant.

“What’s going on?” Casey asks, accepting Cruz’s hand up. Knowing that he would have to change shirts either way, Casey wipes Pouch’s slobber off his face with his already damp Lieutenant’s shirt.

“Sorry Lieutenant. Otis and I were trying to give him a bath. I guess he didn’t enjoy it as much as we hoped he would,” Cruz says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

“Why’s his collar still on if you’re giving him a bath?”

“You’re supposed to take it off?” Cruz asks, staring at the truck lieutenant blankly.

With a long suffering sigh, Casey starts towards the locker room, motioning for Cruz to follow him.

Opening his locker, Casey digs around for a few seconds before pulling out a bottle of dog shampoo, a dog brush and some dog treats. Upon seeing the treats, Pouch pulls, trying to get to them despite both Casey and Cruz’s repeated “No!”s.

They fill a small tub up with lukewarm water and Casey picks the struggling dog up before depositing him in the tub with a splash.

“Lieutenant, you don’t have to-,” Cruz starts before Casey cuts with off with a wave of the hand.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m already wet anyways,” Casey tells him, “But this is the only time I’m doing this so watch and learn.”


	22. Fans

“Hey, Sev?”

Severide glances up to see Casey standing in his doorway, looking a little sheepish.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Severide says, a little worried.

“If you’re not using it… could I… borrow your fan?” Casey asks, mumbling the last part.

“Jesus, Case. Is that all? I thought you killed somebody!” Severide laughs as Casey flushes red.

“If I killed somebody, you’d be the last person I’d tell.”

“Hey!” Severide grins, shoving at Casey’s shoulder, “Go ahead. Take it. Just know that when I kill somebody, you’re the first person I’ll call.”

“When?” 

“I mean if.”

“Uh-huh. I’m going to ask Boden to schedule you for a psych eval.”

“Oh just take the fan and leave me alone.”

“Fine. Thanks, Sev.”


	23. Jellyfish Sting

Casey looks up as Severide comes into the station, obviously favouring his left foot.

“Hey, what happened?” Casey asks.

“I got stung by a jellyfish. On the bottom of my foot. Like seriously, it couldn’t have stung me anywhere else?” Severide complains, flopping down on the couch beside Casey.

“It could be worse,” Casey shrugs.

“How?”

“It could’ve gotten you in the face. Or your hand. Or it could have gotten your other foot two.”

“Yeah whatever. Let me be a pessimist in peace.”


	24. Lemon Sorbet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s one of my head canons (Is that the right term??) that Matt is allergic to mint.

“I got ice cream!” Cruz announces, walking into the station with two plastic bags.

“Awesome! What kind?” Severide asks, running over.

“I’ve got mint chocolate chip, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and lemon sorbet,” Cruz says, taking out the small containers and setting them on the table. “Don’t worry. She used a different scoop so there’s no cross contamination.”

Severide nods, happy that Cruz had remembered. He was certain that Casey wouldn’t have bothered to check. Taking two lemon sorbets, Severide disappears in search of Casey.

“Casey! Cruz brought ice cream,” Severide tells him, opening Casey’s door and flopping down on the bed. 

“Great! I’ll be there in a second,” Casey says without turning around.

“Don’t worry,” Severide says, an idea forming in his mind. “I got one for you.”

Casey turns around just in time to get a face full of ice cream. While Casey’s frozen in shock, Severide darts past him, sprinting away as fast as possible.

“Guys, we’re going for a ride! Now!” Severide shouts, hearing Casey chasing after him. 

“Severide! Get your ass back here!” Casey shouts, running after his friend, sorbet dripping from his face.

“Now! Now! Now!” Kelly shouts, jumping into the passenger seat just as Capp drives off. He can see Casey standing there, fuming, as they drive and he hears the rest of Squad laughing in the back. 

“Where to, Lieutenant?” Capp asks.

“Anywhere you can hide a giant fire truck.”

~~~

The station is silent except for Casey’s cursing as Squad pulls out. 

“Hey, uh, Lieutenant? You have a little something…” Herrmann says, trailing off when Casey sends him a glare.

“I know, Herrmann.”


	25. Playing Outside

“Otis, catch!” Cruz shouts, tossing the football at his friend, Otis catches it and turns to pass it to Mills. Mills in turn throws it over to Mouch, missing by about two feet. 

Casey looks up just in time to get a football to the face. The left side of his face explodes in pain and Casey looks up, a confused expression on his face. He sees Mills covering his mouth with a hand, looking stunned. Herrmann and Otis are doubled over laughing and Mouch is looking the other way.

“Careful,” Casey cautions, tossing the ball back before continuing on his way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a day late and I am so sorry!
> 
> But I went to pride yesterday for the first time and it was dope.


	26. Petting Zoo

“Where is he?” Severide asks as he follows the lady towards a large rope course.

“Right here,” she says and Severide looks up to see a little boy, around eight or nine, hanging upside down, a rope tied around his left foot.

“Casey,” Severide says, looking at the rope which is starting to fray.

“I see it,” Casey tells him and turns around to instruct his team on what to do. Severide does the same and two minutes later, the two of them are at the top of the ladder, waiting for Capp to get up to cut the rope. 

“Hey buddy. My names Kelly and this is Matt. We’re going to get you down. Can you tell me your name?”

“My names Matt too,” the boy sniffs looking at Casey.

“Well, Matt. You’re very brave,” Kelly tells him, giving him a reassuring smile when Capp finally gets up.

The two lieutenants hold the kid up, balancing on the top of the ladder, as Capp cuts the rope, leaving Casey and Severide holding the boy up. 

From up here, they can see the petting zoo in the corner of the park, right beside the go carts.

“There we go. Good as new,” Severide says, holding Matt in his arms and climbing down the ladder. Casey starts to follow him before he looks down, surprised to see a goat racing full speed towards the truck, three employees running after it.

“Sev, hold on!” He calls. Severide glances up, confused but grabs the ladder with one hand, holding the boy with the other. The goat rams into the truck, shaking the ladder. Luckily both the lieutenants are fine, having been prepared, but Cruz, who was standing on top of the truck, gives a yell of surprise before he topples over the edge.

“Cruz! You okay?” Casey calls down as Cruz jumps to his feet and scrambles on top of the truck as the goat runs towards him, followed by three other goats, two ostriches and a donkey.

The two lieutenants and the kid watch as both squad and truck race for the trucks, climbing on top of them as the animals chase after everybody else. The goats ram into the truck again, causing Casey to lose his balance. As he’s trying to get his balance back, two more goats ram into the side of the truck again, making the ladder shudder and throwing Casey from the top.

“Casey!” Severide shouts as he watches his friend fall. His body hits the ground with a sickening crack and the small boy in Kelly’s arms starts sobbing. 

Kelly finishes climbing down the ladder, despite the animals still running around manically. By the time he gets to the ground, most of the animals have been wrangled and are now being led back to their pens. He hands the boy off to Herrmann and rushes to his friend's side, his heart skipping a beat when Casey doesn’t move, still as a statue.

“Is he breathing?” He asked Brett as he drops to his knees beside the truck lieutenant. 

“He’s breathing but he doesn’t look too good. Help me get him on the background,” she instructs, attaching a C collar and with Kelly’s help, sliding the backboard under Casey. The two of them lift him up and with Dawson and Cruz’s help, deposit him into the back of the ambulance. Kelly takes a deep breath as they whisk his best friend away, praying that the damage isn’t too severe.


	27. A Cold Creek

“This way, guys,” Severide says quietly, leading his team deeper into the woods. 

Boden had insisted on a team building exercise and had chosen camping. Casey had not been happy, trying every excuse he could think of to not go - alderman responsibilities, family stuff, being sick, doctor’s appointments. Kelly had to literally kidnap him and take him, kicking and screaming to the campsite. He was sure that truck had enjoyed seeing their lieutenant tossed from Kelly’s truck, duck tape over his mouth and his arms and legs tied up with rope. 

It was now two days later and Casey was still not very enthusiastic about the whole thing. He had been camped out in his tent all day until Kelly had dragged him out for a game of capture the flag, Truck vs Squad. Ambo had split up, Brett with Truck and Dawson with Squad. Boden had decided to referee to, as he had said, “Discourage any cheating”. Severide was still slightly offended at the fact that Boden had looked directly at him while saying that.

His thoughts are interrupted by a sudden shout of surprise followed by a loud splash. Kelly takes off running towards the creek (Which happened to mostly be in Squad’s territory), hoping to tag somebody out. He skids to a stop at the side of the creek, surprised to see Casey sitting in a tree in the middle of the creek, drenched and shivering. 

“Hey, Case! You ok?” He calls over, unsure of how to get over to the truck lieutenant without getting soaked himself. 

“I hate camping,” Casey grumbles, scowling and crossing his arms like a petulant child.

“Yeah I know, buddy. On the bright side, there’s only five days left,” Kelly says and immediately realizes it was the wrong thing to say when Casey lets out a dramatic sigh. Kelly tolls his eyes and Matt glares at him before letting go of the branch with his hands and swinging himself around so he’s upside down, facing away from Severide.

“Does this mean you’re not playing anymore?” Kelly calls and Matt flips him the bird, despite the fact that it’s upside down.

“Got it.”


	28. Coconut Water

“You know,” Casey remarks as he sips coconut water on the beach, “This almost makes getting shot worth it.”

“It’s kind of concerning that that’s what it takes to get you to go on a vacation,” Severide tells him.

“Touché.”


	29. New Shoes

“Casey! Hurry up!” Severide whines, flinging himself dramatically onto the floor.

“You didn’t have to come,” Casey tells him as he slips on a pair of plain black sneakers.

“You told me to!”

“I literally said I was going out and you followed me,” Casey says, slipping the black ones off and putting a red pair on.

“Tomato tomato. You should get these,” Severide tells him, picking up a pair of horribly bright yellow sneakers.

“Huh. Maybe I will.”

Casey never thought he would see somebody look so shocked. Severide’s mouth had dropped open as shoes fall to the ground.

“You’re kidding,” Severide accuses. Matt shrugs, trying on the yellow monstrosities. 

“They fit,” he announces, picking the box up and starting to walk to the cash, Severide following along in shock.

“You’re really getting them?” Severide asks and Casey nods.

“You know the guys are going to rip you to pieces.”

Casey shrugs as he pays for the shoes.

“You’re going to cause a car accident.”

“I’m going to go blind looking at those.”

“You’re old shoes are fine. If you ignore the fact that they have no bottoms.”

“Seriously, Case. You’ll be fine if you don’t go out in the rain.”

Casey ignores Severide as he gets in his truck, Severide taking the seat beside him. It’s silent until they pull up outside their apartment.

“You’re seriously going to wear those?” Kelly asks.

“Yup.”

“Good luck.”


	30. Homemade Lemonade

“Whatcha making?” Kelly asks, pulling himself up to sit on the counter.

“I’m trying to make lemonade but somebody,” Casey says, looking pointedly at Severide. “Is making it very difficult.”

“I wonder who that would be,” Kelly jokes, propping both his legs up on Casey’s left shoulder and leaning back.

Casey lets out a long suffering sigh and pushes his friends feet off.

“If you’re going to sit here annoying me, could you at least pass me the lemons?” Casey asks, setting the water to boil. 

Kelly wordlessly hands him three lemons and Casey thanks him. Severide watches wordlessly, fidgeting with his hands as Casey continues making the lemonade.

“I’m gonna go run some drills,” he announces before hopping off the counter and calling squad outside. Casey shakes his head and grins at his friends ridiculously short attention span.


	31. Stationary Shopping

Casey lets out a frustrated sigh, glaring at the place where his pen had stopped working. Tossing that one in the garbage, Casey reaches for another one and stops, realizing that he was out of pens. With an annoyed grunt, Casey stands up, heading to Severide’s office to steal one of his friends pens.

Knocking once on Kelly’s door to get the squad lieutenants attention, Casey opens the door and slips inside.

“Can I steal a pen?” he asks, flopping down on his friends bunk.

“Sorry, bud. I’m all out. I was going to get some more this weekend. Try asking Boden.”

Casey nods and heads to Boden’s office.

“Hey chief?”

“Lieutenant. What can I do for you?” Boden asks, looking up from his computer.

“Just wondering if I could borrow a pen?” 

“Sorry, Casey. My last one just ran out a couple hours ago.”

Casey nods and turns to leave, wondering how the entire station managed to run out of pens at the same time.

“Truck! We’re going for a ride!” Casey calls, heading into the common room and grabbing his blue lieutenant's jacket. It was the last day of August and it was starting to get chilly. 

His team gets up and heads towards the truck, grabbing their turnout gear just in case.

“Where to lieutenant?” Cruz asks once everyone’s in the truck.

“Staples,” Casey tells him and away they go. 

~~~

Parking is a nightmare, as one would expect when they drive a huge fire truck. Cruz finally finds a spot, parking along one edge of the parking lot and Casey heads in, making sure his radio is turned on.

“Hi! My name is Mandy! Can I help you with anything?” 

Casey looks up at the sudden appearance of a bright eyed teenager, a smile covering her face.

“I’m just looking for pens,” Casey tells her, glancing down at his radio when is crackles.

“Right this way! Are you looking for any specific pens? Gel pens? Sharpie pens? Drawing pens?”

“Just blue pens,” he tells her, spotting a pack of blue, black and red pens.

“How about these?” She asks, holding up a package of blue pens, each a different shade.

“Thanks for the help but I found what I need,” he tells her, holding up the package of pens.

“Great!” She says before turning to help another customer.

Casey picks up two other packages, one for Severide and the other for Boden, and heads to the cash to pay for them.

He’s nearly finished paying when his radio crackles and main’s voice comes through.

“House fire at 231 Gerridan street.”

“Truck 81 responding,” Casey says, grabbing his receipt and jogging towards the truck.


End file.
